The John Adams Prize

To honour John D. Adams (1935–2015), FRHSV, Councillor (1966–2005), and to use his bequest of $10,000 to the RHSV in an appropriate manner, the RHSV has created a biennial prize. Since John Adams, a lecturer in Librarianship at RMIT for 27 years, was also the honorary indexer of the Victorian Historical Journal, indexing it for the years 1954–2013, the prize will be for the best article or historical note in the journal over a two-year period, commencing with Issues 287–290 (2017 and 2018).

The following terms apply to the prize:

This biennial prize will be awarded for the best article or historical note on Victorian history in the four VHJ issues over two calendar years, beginning 2017–18.
The prize will be awarded for an article or historical note that illuminates a significant element of Victoria’s history, is clearly and succinctly written, and is researched from original material.
Members of the RHSV Publications Committee are ineligible for the award.
The prize offered from the Adams bequest is $300 and three years’ free membership of the RHSV, which includes hard copies of the VHJ
A short list of five articles will be compiled by the VHJ editors active in the prize period.
Short-listing will occur at the end of each two-year period, beginning in December 2018.
Two judges will be chosen by the Publications Committee from academic and community historians and will report to the Committee by the following April.
The John Adams Prize will be presented biennially at the RHSV AGM following its judging and will be announced in the ensuing June issues of the VHJ and History News.